


Outtake from the Sea in Between: Tarnec

by Oh_Contrary



Series: The Sea in Between [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Imprisonment, Lima Syndrome, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 19:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10646238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Contrary/pseuds/Oh_Contrary
Summary: After the incident with Kaecar, Lance finds unexpected help in his guard, Tarnec, who seems to have taken a liking to him.





	Outtake from the Sea in Between: Tarnec

Lance waited and waited, hoping for the moment that his heart stopped. That his wounds overwhelmed him; that he lost one drop too much of his blood and he was finally allowed to die.

But it never came.

He lay, bleeding, on the floor of his cell for minute after minute, pleading with God for this to be the end, but he did not die. His heart slowed, and he faded in and out of consciousness, but he did not die.

He woke to hands on him and he flinched away, a half-formed plea leaking from his bloodied mouth.

“Calm down,” a smooth voice said. Large, clawed hands rolled him onto his back and he groaned in pain. “I’m going to remove your collar to stay the bleeding on your shoulder. Try anything, and I will leave you here to die.”

Lance said nothing, allowing himself to be maneuvered. He was rolled again, his bruised face resting against his saviour’s leg as they tore him out of his tunic. He shivered. The room had always been too cold. Lance continued to float in and out of consciousness as the wound on his shoulder was gently cleaned and covered. He was laid back down on the floor as his handler moved to the wounds on his leg. They pulled Lance’s blood soaked pants down his legs, leaving him naked in the cold room. Even though they moved him gently, almost lovingly, he couldn’t help but cry out as a hand reached his injured leg.

“Quiet, paladin. I’m _trying_ to help you,” the voice snapped. Lance bit his lip, trying not to yell as a they pressed a wet cloth to one of the wounds. He groaned, twisting away from the touch. “Paladin,” the voice growled. It was familiar, and Lance opened his eyes, looking through unshed tears at—

“Tarnec?” he whimpered, jolting as the cloth returned to one of the wounds.

“Be still,” Tarnec said gruffly, holding Lance’s leg down with a hand on his knee. “These are too deep for me to clean without hurting you, human. You’ll just have to bear it.” Tarnec pressed the cloth into the wound again and Lance cried out, tears leaking down his face as his torso jerked halfway off of the floor.

“Tarnec please, just leave it. Let me die, Tarnec. Just please, don’t touch it—”

Tarnec moved to lean over Lance, pressing the hand with the disinfectant cloth into his chest and pinning him to the floor.

“Beg the druids for death, paladin. Do not try to win it from me,” He growled. Lance hiccuped between slowing sobs, trembling as Tarnec loomed over him. Even as the galra lessened the pressure on his chest, he kept Lance pinned with his eyes. Tarnec sighed, averting his gaze, and shushed him gently, rubbing soothing circle onto Lance’s chest before turning his attention back to the would Kaecar created. “I’m going to try and clean your wound again,”Tarnec said plainly. Lance nodded. Tarnec raised the cloth again and Lance braced himself, digging his fingernails into his palm as he waiting for the pain, but it didn’t come. He peeled open an eye and saw Tarnec looking at him. Tarnec grabbed the ruined tunic off of the floor and tore off the cleanest piece, twisting it into a rod. He pressed it against Lance’s lips— “Bite this. It will help.”— and Lance opened his mouth, letting Tarnec press the hard bolt of fabric between his teeth.

It was a hard process, cleaning the wound. Tarnec would murmur to Lance in English and Galra to try and keep him calm, but, even so, Lance became overwhelmed, twice blacking out from a combination of pain and blood loss, before Tarnec simply had to give up on cleaning the wound and focus on getting it covered.

When Lance’s leg was bandaged, Tarnec turned and grabbed another prisoner’s uniform from behind him. He pulled Lance upright and leaned him against his chest, gently helping him into the new tunic. Lance started to cry again, both embarrassed at his nakedness and vulnerability in front of Tarnec, but also overwhelmed by the sudden display of caring that the galra had showed him. Tarnec shushed him, rubbing up and down Lance’s back with a big, warm hand.

“Why are you doing this?” he managed between sobs.

“I will not let you die, paladin.” Tarnec murmured, shifting Lance to start helping him into a new pair of pants. Tarnec slowly maneuvered him into the pants, even as Lance cried. When he was done, he picked up Lance’s collar and gently returned it to its place around Lance’s neck. He wrapped Lance in a new blanket and carried him, still crying to a corner of the room. Tarnec retrieved the old blanket and tunic, using them to sop up some of the blood before carrying them out with him.

Lance lied in the stillness of the room, crying quietly. Soon, Tarnec returned, kneeling by Lance on the floor. He pulled Lance into his arms and pressed a straw against his lips.

“Drink,” Tarnec said.

“I thought you had to take me to Nurav,” Lance hiccuped. Tarnec chuckled.

“When the druid wants you, they will come for you, paladin. Now, drink. It’s just water.” Lance wrapped his swollen lips around the straw and began to drink, almost crying from the relief of the cool water on his throat, raw from yelling and crying. Tarnec murmured praises in his ear as he finished the entire pouch.

Tarnec laid him back down on the floor, pulling the blanket tighter around his skinny frame.

“Rest now, paladin. His majesty has an early meeting and you will be there.”

“Tarnec, what time is it?” Lance rasped.

“Late in the evening.”

“And why are you doing this? Helping me?” Tarnec was quiet for a long moment.

“It is my job to keep you alive. We both must play our parts.”

“But—”

“Quiet now,” he snapped. Lance shut his mouth and looked warily up at Tarnec, who sighed. “Quiet now, my paladin. Sleep.”

Tarnec crossed to the control panel on the wall. Fiddling with it for a moment before leaving. He did not return until morning when he came to wake Lance, who, for the first time in days, had not shivered all through the night.


End file.
